From Egypt to India and the USA: China's leader has begun a world tour
From the summit and private meetings with Vladimir Putin in Kyrgyzstan to the expected visit to the White House. After a year in which he hosted over 20 leaders in China, Xi Jinping has begun a series of global visits. Where will he visit and what is he trying to achieve?
Chinese President Xi Jinping began a series of global meetings on Monday with some of the world's most prominent leaders. The tour opened in Kyrgyzstan for a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
From Kyrgyzstan, the Chinese president is expected to continue to Egypt, from where he may continue to India for the BRICS summit taking place next week, and at the end of the month, Xi will arrive for a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House.
What is behind this unusual world tour, who will Xi meet, and what is he trying to achieve?
First stop: Kyrgyzstan
On paper, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization deals with economic and security cooperation between Eastern countries and includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus.
In practice, in recent years, the summit has become a stage where China and Russia try to promote a new world order and present an alternative to the institutions and alliances led by the United States and Western countries.
When he arrived on Sunday in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Xi spoke of a 'golden age' in relations between the countries. Behind the festive phrasing lies a deeper change. China is working to expand its economic and political presence in Central Asia, a region that has for years been considered Moscow's backyard.
The timing of the summit is not coincidental. Four and a half years have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine, and six months since the outbreak of the war between the USA and Iran, and Vladimir Putin plans to use the summit for a series of personal meetings with Xi and with Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, to deepen military and economic cooperation between the countries — which has increased Washington's pressure on Russia and China.
For the Chinese leader, the world tour is particularly unusual. In recent years, Xi has significantly reduced his visits outside the country. But even during the period when Xi remained in China, he ensured that world leaders came to him: more than 20 leaders, including Donald Trump, visited Beijing in the past year.
But this week in Bishkek, he is opening a busy diplomatic period. After Kyrgyzstan, he is expected, as mentioned, to make a state visit to Egypt, his first to the country in a decade.
In recent years, China has expanded its presence in the Suez Canal area. And Egypt has something that Beijing needs right now — access and information.
Cairo talks with Israel, with the Gulf states, with the Palestinians, and with the USA; it is directly involved in Gaza and in the security of the Red Sea; and it can provide Xi with a close-up assessment of how the key players in the region read the situation and where it might develop.
Later, Xi is expected to arrive in New Delhi for the BRICS summit. At the end of September, he is also expected to visit Washington and meet with Donald Trump.
The possible visit to India, the first in 7 years, indicates the improvement in relations between the countries in the past year, after a period of tension surrounding the border conflict.
Direct flights were renewed, trade routes were reopened, and in March, India eased some restrictions on Chinese investments in the country. Last week, the parties also agreed to try to move forward in resolving the border disputes between them.
However, it is clear that as India grows, the economic and technological competition between the countries is only deepening.
The new center — China
Last year, Xi, Narendra Modi, and Vladimir Putin were seen laughing together at the Shanghai summit, while Washington was waging trade wars with China and India. The video went viral and frustrated the Americans.
Since then, the picture has changed. Donald Trump reduced tariffs on India in February from 50% to 18%, and both countries are negotiating a trade agreement. He also visited China this year.
This month, the Trump administration expanded secondary sanctions against Iran's trade partners, among other things in the fields of gold, technology, digital assets, aviation, and shipping. The goal is to deepen Tehran's economic isolation.
However, for China, this is a direct threat. Beijing is a major customer of Iranian oil, and it has announced that it will "resolutely defend" its interests.
Thus, the current round of meetings, taking place in the shadow of the war in Iran, instability in trade and energy routes, trade wars, and the technological race, allows China to position itself not only as a rival to the USA, but as a central and powerful superpower.
All this will be in the background of the meeting between Xi and Trump in Washington on September 24. Issues of technology, trade, Russia, and Iran will be at the center of the talks. But, as mentioned, even before he arrives at the White House, Xi will pass through Bishkek, Cairo, and most likely New Delhi as well.
The route illustrates the message that China seeks to convey. In the world it wants to build, Washington is still a central power, but it is no longer the only center.
What is behind the visit?
Carice Witte, CEO and founder of the SIGNAL Group, which deals with Israel-China and Indo-Pacific relations, says:
"Xi Jinping's only trip abroad so far this year was to North Korea. This fact makes his upcoming series of trips to the SCO summit, to Egypt, and according to reports also to the BRICS summit in India, particularly notable."
"Some interpret this unusual burst of diplomatic activity at the highest levels as an attempt by Beijing to exploit the weakening of trust in the United States, especially among countries of the Global South."
"Xi's first physical participation in a BRICS summit since 2024, this time in India, may be an attempt to remind the organization's members of China's central role in a time of uncertainty. It may also give Beijing an opportunity to try to stabilize its relations with its key neighbor, whose GDP growth rate is about 40% higher than China's."
According to Witte, "there is a broad consensus that the environment has become more dangerous: the nuclear order established during the Cold War is described as having 'irreversibly come to an end', instability in the maritime arena threatens key shipping lanes, the US-led security architecture in the Middle East is weakening, and Chinese companies operating overseas face growing risks. But there is no internal consensus regarding the next step that Beijing should take.
"Hawkish voices in China argue that the country should develop greater independent capability and adopt a much stronger maritime stance, including proposals for an effort that will last for decades with the goal of establishing Chinese supremacy at sea.
"Others argue almost the opposite — that military power cannot guarantee China's security, and that Beijing's interests will be better protected through open, stable, and clear international rules, and joint management of maritime choke points."
How does this fit into the current diplomatic move?
"Xi's diplomacy looks less like a campaign designed to convince the Global South to choose China, and more like an attempt to understand how China itself should act in a world that has become much more difficult," explains Witte.
"Egypt, for example, will allow Beijing to get a better picture regarding the Suez Canal, security in the Red Sea, Gaza, and the Arab world.
"It may very well be that Xi is using these talks to test whether China's traditional preference for economic engagement and multilateral diplomacy is still enough, or whether protecting its expanding global interests will require it to play a much more assertive and significant security role."
